NATO is sketching out a plan to meet Trump's call for 5% of GDP on defense

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on March 13. | DOUG MILLS photo

Wires
May 14, 2025

NATO allies have started cobbling together an agreement to significantly boost defense spending in a way that may assuage U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand to spend 5% of economic output on the military.

Negotiators in the military alliance are making progress on a path to achieve 5% of gross domestic product on defense and defense-related spending by 2032 ahead of a NATO summit in The Hague in June, according to diplomats familiar with the matter. NATO foreign ministers will discuss the initiative at a meeting in the Turkish resort city of Antalya Wednesday and Thursday.

The Mediterranean meeting takes place against a rush of diplomacy as the Trump administration pushes to end the war in Ukraine that’s dragged on for more than three years. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s prepared to meet face-to-face with Vladimir Putin in Istanbul on Thursday as the warring sides grapple with demands for a ceasefire. The Russian leader has given no sign he’ll come.